Environment – Page 135 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Women 16–49 at Risk of Multiple Pollutants

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2012Environment, Healthamerican women, babies, blood level, body burden, brain development, brown university, chemical coexposures, chemical pollutant, childbearing age, environmental pollutant, fetuses, harm, kim boekelheide, lead, marcella thompson, median, mercury, nhanes, PCBs, pollutant, polychlorinated biphenyls, research document, rhode island, risk factor, sigma theta tau, university, us women

In a new analysis of thousands of U.S. women of childbearing age, Brown University researchers found that most exceeded the median blood level for two or more of three environmental pollutants that could harm brain development of fetuses and babies: lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Nearly 23 percent of American women of childbearing age met or exceeded the median blood levels for all three environmental chemical pollutants — lead, mercury, and PCBs — tracked in an analysis of data on thousands of women by Brown University researchers. All but 17.3 percent of the women aged 16 to 49 were at or above the median blood level for one or more of these chemicals, which are passed to fetuses through the placenta and to babies through breast milk. (more…)

International Study Provides More Solid Measure of Shrinking in Polar Ice Sheets

By Guest PostNovember 30, 2012Environmentcontinental ice sheets, glaciers in greenland, ice sheet, ice sheet loss, polar ice sheets, sea-level rise, west antarctic

The planet’s two largest ice sheets have been losing ice faster during the past decade, causing widespread confusion and concern. A new international study provides a firmer read on the state of continental ice sheets and how much they are contributing to sea-level rise. (more…)

Energy Savings – Easy as Dirt, Heat, Pressure

By Guest PostNovember 28, 2012Environment, Sciencecar engine, dirt, donald morelli, electricity, energy, heat, industrial power plants, materials, materials science, michigan state university, minerals, natural minerals, pressure, synthesize, tetrahedrites, thermoelectric generation, thermoelectric material, waste heat, wayne state university, xu lu

By using common materials found pretty much anywhere there is dirt, a team of Michigan State University researchers have developed a new thermoelectric material.

This is important, they said, because the vast majority of heat that is generated from, for example, a car engine, is lost through the tail pipe. It’s the thermoelectric material’s job to take that heat and turn it into something useful, like electricity. (more…)

The Installed Price of Solar Photovoltaic Systems in the U.S. Continues to Decline at a Rapid Pace

By Guest PostNovember 27, 2012Environmentberkeley lab, business process, commercial, customer site, galen barbose, module cost, power system, price, pv, pv module, pv systems, ryan wiser, solar photovoltaic, tracking the sun, united states

Berkeley, CA — The installed price of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the United States fell substantially in 2011 and through the first half of 2012, according to the latest edition of Tracking the Sun, an annual PV cost-tracking report produced by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

The median installed price of residential and commercial PV systems completed in 2011 fell by roughly 11 to 14 percent from the year before, depending on system size, and, in California, prices fell by an additional 3 to 7 percent within the first six months of 2012. These recent installed price reductions are attributable, in large part, to dramatic reductions in PV module prices, which have been falling precipitously since 2008. (more…)

Blame, Responsibility and Demand for Change Following Floods

By Guest PostNovember 27, 2012Environmentclimate change, conor murphy, cumbria, economic disruption, England, events, exeter, extreme weather, galway, governmental failure, heavy flooding, irene lorenzoni, mega storms, Nature, neil adger, north west england, political demand, turbulent weather, tyndall centre, university, western ireland

New research shows concerns about governmental failure to act effectively and fairly in the aftermath of extreme weather events can affect the degree to which residents are willing to protect themselves.

Published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the findings of a team led by scientists at the University could prove key to establishing how society should evolve to cope with more turbulent weather and more frequent mega storms.

The team examined attitudes in Cumbria in north west England and Galway in western Ireland, which were both hit by heavy flooding in November 2009. Record rainfall was recorded in both countries, resulting in a number of deaths, properties being severely damaged and economic disruption. (more…)

Hearty Organisms Discovered in Bitter-Cold Antarctic Brine

By Guest PostNovember 26, 2012Environmentammonia, anoxic brine, antarctic ice, aquatic environment, brine, cryo environment, earth, east antarctica, ecosystem, europa, extreme environment, frozen environment, hearty microbes, jupiter, lake vida, life, mcmurdo dry valleys, michigan state university, microbial life, microbial metabolism, model, moon, nathaniel ostrom, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, permanent darkness, subzero temperature, sulfur, supersaturated, vacation destination, water, zoologist

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Where there’s water there’s life – even in brine beneath 60 feet of Antarctic ice, in permanent darkness and subzero temperatures.

While Lake Vida, located in the northernmost of the McMurdo Dry Valleys of East Antarctica, will never be a vacation destination, it is home to some newly discovered hearty microbes. In the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Nathaniel Ostrom, Michigan State University zoologist, has co-authored “Microbial Life at -13ºC in the Brine of an Ice-Sealed Antarctic Lake.” (more…)

Climate Dialogue

By Guest PostNovember 19, 2012Environmentclimate authority, climate dialogue, climate patterns, climate scientist, earth climate

Renowned geoscientist Richard Alley shares climate history, predictions

Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, appeared at the University of Delaware’s Mitchell Hall on Nov. 8 to discuss his breakthrough findings about abrupt climate changes in Earth’s past and the implications of his research for Earth’s future. (more…)

Fishing for Answers off Fukushima

By Guest PostNovember 19, 2012Environmentcatastrophic damage, cesium, contaminated sediment, contamination, dai ichi, earthquake, fish, fukushima, fukushima prefecture, implication, Japan, japanese coast, japanese public, ken buesseler, maff, marine environment, mitsuo uematsu, northeast, northwest, nuclear power plant, ocean, pacific ocean, public health, radiation, radiation level, radioactive isotope, radionuclides, reactor site, release, seafloor, seaweed, shellfish, tokyo, triple disaster, tsunami, university, world

Japan fisheries data provides a look at how the ocean is faring 18 months after the worst accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history

Japan’s “triple disaster,” as it has become known, began on March 11, 2011, and remains unprecedented in its scope and complexity. To understand the lingering effects and potential public health implications of that chain of events, scientists are turning to a diverse and widespread sentinel in the world’s ocean: fish.

Events on March 11 began with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the fourth largest ever recorded. The earthquake in turn spawned a massive 40-foot tsunami that inundated the northeast Japanese coast and resulted in an estimated 20,000 missing or dead. Finally, the wave caused catastrophic damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, resulting in the largest accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history, 80 percent of which ended up in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. (more…)

Category Archives: Environment